£312m boost for borough's council housing

Hundreds of millions of pounds will be spent improving and expanding council-owned housing in Rotherham over the next four years after plans were approved.

Rotherham Council's cabinet signed off a £312.6m Housing Revenue Account capital programme at a meeting this week.

Almost £100m was allocated to increase the number of council homes in the borough, with nearly £200m to be spent on improvements to existing homes, such as new kitchens and bathrooms, replacement boilers, upgraded windows and doors and work to tackle damp and mould.

Councillor Linda Beresford, cabinet member for housing, told the meeting: "Improving existing homes and estates for our tenants is our number one priority."

Thousands of homes would be upgraded to reach what is known as Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2030, which could help reduce energy bills for tenants, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Meanwhile, £13.4m was set aside to support senior tenants, or those with disabilities, throughout the process.

Rotherham Council's cabinet was told that about 150 new council homes were expected to be either delivered or purchased in 2026-27 alone, through a mix of new-build developments and properties bought from developers or on the open market.

A total of £17.5m would be spent over the next 12 months on phased refurbishments across Kimberworth Park, East Dene, Thurcroft and Swinton.

A further £2.1m would be spent on digital upgrades to modernise the housing service, and, in total, £76.8m would be spent in the first year of the programme.

Beresford said: "It's important that we've got a housing service that's fit for the future, which is why we intend to invest in digital transformation and our IT systems."

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